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Ebil Lieutenant
RavenclawEnemies of the Heir, Beware...of the Petrified Cat!

Join Date

Aug 2010

Location

London

Posts

555

How James, Albus and Lily are related to Narcissa Malfoy

Hi, I'm new to the beta boards and I'd just like to know how Narcissa is related to Harry's children or if she's even their relative in any way. I find it kind of difficult to digest the family tree of the Blacks, so if someone could tell me their specific relation (i.e. great-aunt twice removed) it would really help for a story I'm working on. Thanks!

Narcissa was Sirius Black's cousin and not related to Harry in any way. The Weasleys and Prewetts (Molly's maiden name) were distantly related to the Blacks, so she might be a third cousin or something.

Sirius was Harry's godfather, but that's a courtesy title and there wasn't a blood tie between them.

Arthur Weasly was the child of Cedrella Black and Septimus Weasley, so Cedrella Black is Ginny's grandmother and great-grandmother to James, Albus and Lily.

Cedrella's father Arcturus was the brother of Narcissa's great-grandfather Cygnus. Cygnus's son Pollux and Cedrella are cousins.

Pollux's son Cygnus is Narcissa's father. So I suppose that Cygnus and Arthur are second cousins. Narcissa and Ginny would then be third cousins? I don't know if that even exists. Or if Narcissa and Ginny would be second cousins once removed.

There's a Charlus Potter somewhere on the Black Family tree, but I have no idea how he's meant to be related to Harry and his kids. However it does he had one son, so presuming that the son is James Potter I (he probably isn't but for speculation's sake) then that would make Harry's kids second cousins once removed (I think) to Narcissa Malfoy. I wouldn't be too surprised if my calculation was wrong though.

Charlus Potter is unlikely to be Harry's grandfather because of the age he died. JKR has said that James' parents were elderly, even for wizarding standards, and Charlus dies in his fifties or something. That's not old by our standards so it'd be even younger for wizards.

I think Narcissa would be James' third cousin once removed. I found a tree on Wikipedia, but I don't know if I've traced it right because it didn't have the brother of the great-great grandfather. If you want to see this tree, just put 'cousins' into Wikipedia. Incidentally, if they are third cousins once removed, the actual genetic degree of relationshipshare is just 0.391%

They would have the common relatives of Phineas Black and Ursula Flint (they were Narcissa's great-great grandparents and would be the great-great-great grandparents of the Potter kids), related through Arthur Weasley of course. I believe this would make them third cousins once removed, but don't quote me on that.

When you look at the Black Family tree Cedrella Black was blasted off the tree for marrying Septimus Weasley. If Septimus and Cedrella are Arthur's parents (and the dates do fit), then Cedrella's cousin was Pollux Black (First Cousins).

Pollox fathered two children ( Walburga and Cygnus) They would be Arthur's second cousins.

Cygnus was Narcissa's father. She would be a third cousin to Arthur'c children, but to him is a second cousin once removed.

I can't show it very well here, but if you have a horizontal link to a relative then you're a 1st/2nd or 3rd cousin (etc) If there is a diagonal link (Arthur to Narcissa) then the 'removed' tag comes in. Cygnus and Cedrella are 1st cousins once removed.

Ebil Lieutenant
RavenclawEnemies of the Heir, Beware...of the Petrified Cat!

Join Date

Aug 2010

Location

London

Posts

555

Thanks everyone for your help. This does make things easier to understand. I think I'll stick with Carole's explanation, because apparently Charlus Potter wasn't Harry's grandpa, just someone who happened to be called Potter, which means that Albus, James and Lily are related to Narcissa through Ginny, and not through Harry. Thanks again, and it would be really interesting to see a Black/Potter/Weasley/Malfoy/whatever else family tree, because, as Ron said, all pure-bloods are interrelated, aren't they?

Also, thank you to Carole for clarifying when we should use "removed" and "second" or "third". I come from an Asian family, and everyone is just uncle or aunty or sister or brother. There's no "removed" in Bengali, anyway. So thanks for everything!